Family
by inkheart9459
Summary: Andy's been contemplating a new tattoo for a while ever since watercolor tattoos had first caught her eye, but she hadn't found the right design until she walked past one of the many tattoo parlors in the city and it was sitting right in the window.


tumblr prompt from crazybecat: "Oh, how about another piece to the 'looks' series. Maybe the girls talk with Andy about the bodmods, or ooohhh, Andy gets a new tattoo! And it has something to do with Miranda AND the girls! Miranda's shocked, and the girls are excited or something." enjoy.

* * *

Andy passed one of literally thousands of tattoo shops in the City. She stopped and looked in the window for a few minutes. The work in the windows was stunning. Watercolor tattoos always caught her eye. They were new and different and so very, very vibrant. She'd been thinking about getting on for a very long time, but hadn't found a design that resonated with her yet. Nothing had really caught her attention since she had gotten the dragon tattoo.

Everything in front of her was gorgeous and would look great on whoever decided they would get those tattoos, but they weren't for Andy. She went to walk on when a small design in the corner caught her eye. It was looping cursive script surrounded by a great cloud of multicolored watercolor ink. When she got closer she saw that the script was actually made up of other smaller letters. Andy read the looping letters. They were names and a date that formed the word love.

Andy smiled widely, idea forming in her head. She stepped back and looked at the name of the shop, memorizing it for later. She would look it up online, see if the place had good reviews, if it was clean, her normal pre-tattoo procedure. If it wasn't, there were many other parlors that did watercolor and she would find one that met her specifications. Yes, it would work out nicely.

* * *

She researched to her heart's content and found that the shop she'd ended up in front of did good work for a decent price and were very open to custom designs. Andy had come across a few shops that only did designs the artist wanted. It had worked out for her Gordian knot tattoo, but for the rest she had avoided such places. She found a few other places who had slightly higher reviews but the price difference wasn't worth it. Even being with Miranda and her enormous disposable income had not changed Andy's frugal Midwestern ways.

And so she found herself back at the shop, talking designs with one of the artists. He understood what she wanted perfectly, sketching out a design in a few minutes. Andy had smiled at him and nodded. It had been just what she was picturing.

Andy loved the buzz of a needle. She had seen a good many posts on the internet that said tattoos were addictive and she had to agree. Having something so personal visually represented on her skin, there was no other feeling like it in the world. The pain was of no consequence in light of everything else. So she sat back and let the man work quietly while the buzz of the needle surrounded them.

She looked down when he pulled away for the final time and smiled. Andy always had to resist touching the new designs on her skin just to make sure they were really there. She thanked the man profusely as he bandaged her up and gave her the normal care instructions she knew by heart. He had shrugged and smiled sheepishly at her as his did, knowing she had to know the drill by the number of tattoos he'd seen. She pushed herself up out of the chair when he was done, paid her dues and was back out on the street again smiling and perhaps a little high on endorphins.

* * *

The twins were home when she returned but Miranda was still holed up at Runway. She found both Caroline and Cassidy lying on the couch, consuming a mass amount of popcorn and watching some mindless romcom. She flopped down in a chair and winced just slightly. The endorphins were starting to wear off.

"Glad to see you both are spending your break wisely."

Both girls looked at her and rolled their eyes. "This is why we have internships during the semester so we can slack off during the summer." Caroline shoved another handful handful of popcorn in her mouth.

Andy snorted. "I don't think that's how it's supposed to work, but whatever you guys want. Save up the energy for junior year." She couldn't quite believe she was saying that. She swore the girls were just rambunctious ten year olds two days ago and now they were both twenty and almost juniors in college.

"Of course that's how it works. We're Priestlys we make the rules," Cassidy said.

Andy couldn't really say anything to rebut that, they definitely had a point.

"Heard anything from your mom?" She could always text Miranda but there was no need if she'd already informed the girls of her plans.

"Yeah, she said she'd be home for dinner at seven. And that if she hadn't texted by six thirty to let her know it was time to come home. Apparently there's some mishap with some layout like normal." Cassidy shrugged.

Andy snorted at that. Business as usual then.

"Marina is making ginger salmon and baked potatoes. She also said something about a cake maybes'. I'm hoping chocolate but Mom will do that nose flare thing so maybe not," Cassidy continued.

Andy groaned. "Oh god, chocolate cake sounds so good."

"Tell Marina then. If mom knows you wanted it she might lay off a bit." Caroline smiled. The twins both know that Miranda still had a soft spot a mile wide for Andy and her taste in empty calorie filled food.

Andy got up and peeked in the kitchen. "The twins said something about chocolate cake possibly."

The old housekeeper smiled at her. "If that's what you want then how can I say no, darling."

Andy smiled. "Thanks Marina. You're the best."

"Oh, I know." She busied herself with cooking again and Andy took that as her cue to leave.

She went back into the living room, but first stopped in the bathroom to grab a couple Motrin. The pain meds would hold her over nicely now that she was starting to feel the pain. She sat back in her seat and watched the movie the twins were watching. It was absolutely ridiculous, but it was amusing at the same time so she supposed it wasn't all bad.

Half way through another movie Miranda came through the door. Everyone in the living room perked up and looked towards the sound of clicking heels. Miranda came in a second later, looking a little worse for wear, but still as beautiful as ever, Andy thought. She scooted over so there was room in the chair and patted the space beside her.

Miranda walked over and sank down with a sigh. Andy wrapped her arms around her wife and Miranda leaned against her gratefully. She started to make small circles on Miranda's hip and felt Miranda relax slowly.

"Bad day?" Andy asked as the twins looked on.

"Simply intolerable, Andrea, it's like my assistants become more and more insipid and outright imbecilic every single time I replace one. The art department doesn't even bare speaking about. Ever since Nigel left they've been completely inept and cannot complete the simplest tasks at hand. I swear I should fire them all and run the entire magazine myself some days."

Andy pressed a kiss to Miranda's temple. "But then we'd never seen you, and I like seeing you quite a bit."

The wind went out of Miranda's sails and she closed her eyes. "Yes, well, I said I should, not that I would. I quite like seeing you as well." She leaned her head on Andy's shoulder. "But that doesn't change that everyone at Runway is an utter moron."

Andy couldn't hold it in any more, she started to chuckle and the girls joined in. Miranda pulled back and glared at Andy and then the twins. None of them were cowed, they'd grown used to the glare years ago.

"I don't see anything that's funny." She pursed her lips.

"You're just cute when you rant like that. And everyday someone is an utter moron. It's amusing." She stroked a hand through Miranda's hair gently. "But I am sorry that you had a bad day. Marina made chocolate cake. I think a piece would make you feel better."

Miranda huffed. "I suppose. Chocolate is known to cause the release of endorphins in the body that improve mood."

"I just think it's nice that it tastes good, but whatever you want to think about." Andy laughed again and hugged Miranda tighter to her. God, she loved the woman so very much.

"Miranda, Andy, girls, dinner is ready," Marina called. Andy had to admit, the woman always had her timing down. It was almost uncanny.

They all filed out and into the dining room where Marina smiled at them, gestured for them to sit and gave Miranda a quick rundown of what had happened during the day before taking her leave to be with her own family. They ate, exchanging stories from the day. Andy told the girls about a story she was working on about underground musicians in the area. They both had always had rather eclectic taste in music and Andy wasn't surprised when they'd heard of a few people she mentioned. Miranda went into greater depth on her layout problem, to which both the girls and Andy suggested solutions. Miranda had looked thoughtful when she'd said she'd think about it, meaning that either she had found their suggestions useable, or their suggestions had set off ideas of their own.

All them got up and cleared the plates away when they were done, putting them in the dishwasher and boxing up the left overs and throwing them in the fridge. Andy's mouth watered at the thought of cake and the girls were already way ahead of her, serving out pieces on small plates. Andy dug in with glee. Chocolate was just so god damn good.

She listened to the twins go on about some friend from high school and the escapades they'd gone on earlier in the day while she contemplated when to tell the others about her new tattoo. She savored the last bite of cake and looked at her family. She really hoped they liked it since it was a way to tie them all together, not just her and Miranda.

Another set of plates in the dish washer and they all retreated into the living room again. Before the twins could start up god knew what show or movie Andy spoke up.

"So, I've been thinking about another tattoo for a while now. The watercolor ones have been catching my eye lately and I finally found one I wanted," Andy said, diving right in.

"Oh, when are you getting it?" Miranda's eyes had that gleam they did whenever they looked over her naked body and studied each and every tattoo of Andy's intently with looks, fingers, and tongue.

Andy pulled up her shirt to reveal a white bandage. "I already did." She smiled sheepishly and started to peel off the bandage. And god if she still didn't swear that peeling off the bandage tape wasn't the most painful part. Caroline and Cassidy leaned forward as more and more of the new tattoo was revealed.

When everyone realized what the design was they looked up and Andy with wide, emotional eyes. On the other side of her chest, dead even with the dragon she had gotten for Miranda, was the word family written in flowing cursive, surrounded by a rainbow of watercolor ink. The word was made up of each of her family's names, small letters flowing into the next to create the bigger word to a beautiful effect.

"Wow, Andy, you really got that for all of us?" Caroline leaned even closer just to make sure she was seeing right.

"Of course I did. You guys are the most important people in the world to me and for me there's no better way to show that than to have a symbol of that forever on me." She smiled at her family, her perfect little family. She loved them all so dearly.

Miranda looked at her with the kind of warm, open smile that she rarely saw, but loved the best. "It's beautiful, Andrea."

"Not as beautiful as you." She smirked as Miranda rolled her eyes. She hated cheesy compliments as much as she loved them secretly deep down.

"Where did you get it?" Cassidy was inspecting her tattoo with a clinical air. She'd gotten a few tattoos of her own right out of high school. Andy had helped her pick out designs and a shop to get them.

They launched in a conversation about watercolor tattoos and shops and Andy couldn't be happier as everyone looked at her with such love in their eyes. She knew she'd made the right move with her tattoo, but she had made the best decision of her life to join this family years ago.


End file.
